What have you fettled today?

[rafletcher]

I assume it's a mild abrasive.

[Jurek]

I assume it's a mild abrasive.

Toothpaste? Yes.
But Windowlene 

[Tim Hall]

A mix of fettling and divery.

The Boy was complaining that the Big Knife (Opinel Kitchen Knife) was in need of a sharpening, so I broke out the Special Bit of MDF, bits of emery paper, water spray and Windowlene.

10 minutes later the Big Knife was Scarily Sharp, which I proved when I sliced my finger, giving the blade a wipe with a bit of kitchen roll.

What porpoise the Windowlene?

I spray a bit on the 2500 grit. Sometimes.

[T42]

I assume it's a mild abrasive.

Toothpaste? Yes.
But Windowlene 

Lapping fluid.  I use it on diamond "stones".

I also have a stick of green honing paste I use with a strop.  I use it for chisel- and plane-blades but I shy away from using it on cooking knives, though I suppose it'd be OK if I washed them well afterwards.

[MattH]

Had a suspension air bag fail on the planet slayer through old age and the rubber cracking last week - luckily only a couple of miles from home, as the following day it was going to be loaded up for a long journey. Bouncing along on the bump stops wasn't fun, but failing then meant we could make alternative arrangements for transporting the kit around rather than spending hours at the side of the road waiting for the big yellow taxi.

So fixed that today. Not terribly difficult, just all the fun of pulling a car's suspension apart to get the strut out, then disassembling the strut to replace the bag and associated seals. That includes removing bolts that were done up to 250Nm over a decade ago - definitely pleased I invested in a big impact wrench. "20 minute job when I did mine" said my son, albeit on a different model. I expected it to take longer, as it takes that long to get it jacked up and onto stands, get a wheel off, refit the wheel and drop it back down again, without touching the suspension. Ended up spending about 2 hours taking my time, but very satisfying to have the big girl running again.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Yesterday, half-taped the handlebars on my Trykit before the hill climb at the Recumbent World Championships. Not the traditional TTer trick of just wrapping the drops but wrapping the RH side and not the left. Not enough time between arriving, putting up the tent and heading out to the start line to do otherwise.

Finished wrapping the bars this morning, so I don’t look even more of a weirdo, beyond the weirdo quotient derived from riding an upright trike amongst swarms of recumbents and velomobiles.

[Kim]

Looks like the weight saving gained you a respectable result, thobut 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I have trained for plodding through 1200km, not sprinting 4km up a Swiss mountainside. I will recycle this excuse for my poor showing in today’s sprints and in tomorrow’s road race.

[Mr Larrington]

Replaced the screws holding the hinges to the front door frame as those installed up until just now were installed about 25 years ago by a ham-fisted dolt.  Does anyone make:

1: screws and
c) Pozidrive screwdriver bits

out of something other than cheese?

[Basil]

Painting skirting boards.
I hate painting now. I always seem to be doing it. Skirting boards are the worst.
A wall or a door, or whatever, involves plenty of free sploshing with a little cutting in here and there.
Bloody skirting boards is 100% cutting in.

[robgul]

Painting skirting boards.
I hate painting now. I always seem to be doing it. Skirting boards are the worst.
A wall or a door, or whatever, involves plenty of free sploshing with a little cutting in here and there.
Bloody skirting boards is 100% cutting in.

Masking tape (a.k.a. Painter's tape) is your friend - lots of low-tack stuff available now, and some with polythene sheeting attached for larger masking duties.  Mask thoroughly, splosh the paint on!

[Mrs Pingu]

What I mostly hate about painting skirtings is sanding them.
I have not touched any skirtings at the New!improved!PinguTowers but I suspect I will do when the bathroom refurb has been done. (That's assuming there are any skirtings remaining when I get back)

[SteveC]

We have installed a replacement cat flap. The old one died several years ago, so we couldn't lock it for outward bound moggies.
This has not been a problem for the last several years as we've had no cats and it was a good idea for any strangers to be able to leave whenever they or we wanted them to.
We now have a new cat. He's a rescue, about five years old, and as far as we know has never been outdoors in his life.
Fitting the flap was fairly straightforward as it's a direct replacement for the old one.
Programming it to read the cat's ID chip has left me with a couple of lovely scratches on my shin!

[pumpkin]

A new to me rear wheel that felt tight. I took the freehub and axle out, regreased  the ring where the pawls engage and reassembled leaving the preload cap a little less tight. All seems much better.

[Mrs Pingu]

We have installed a replacement cat flap. The old one died several years ago, so we couldn't lock it for outward bound moggies.
This has not been a problem for the last several years as we've had no cats and it was a good idea for any strangers to be able to leave whenever they or we wanted them to.
We now have a new cat. He's a rescue, about five years old, and as far as we know has never been outdoors in his life.
Fitting the flap was fairly straightforward as it's a direct replacement for the old one.
Programming it to read the cat's ID chip has left me with a couple of lovely scratches on my shin!

Sounds like a trip to the Gratuitous Cat Pics thread is in order

[Mr Larrington]

Replacement door hung but lock not yet installed so currently secured with a bolt to prevent the local cheery urchins from robbing the contents of the porch.  As an antidote to wrestling large and intractable lumps of wood I also trimmed the wiring inside the plug on my travelling 4-gang so the meaty outer insulation actually makes it into the 'ole in the plug instead of finishing a finger-width outside it.

Stupid USAnian plug.  Hates it forever.

[Mr Larrington]

Gaze upon the majesty of Larrington Towers' new front door!  And yes, I was able to get back in after taking the photo.  Only took four years.


Installed! by Mr Larrington, on Flickr

[T42]

Good-looking door - fiddly buggers to get right.

UK insurers haven't got round to insisting on two locks yet?  Lack of a second invalidates your insurance here: "sorry your house burned down but you only had one lock on the door so we're not paying you anything".  We have two, but one of them has a cylindrical keyway and some years back a solitary wasp nested in it. I did clear it out but it's still kinda mushy when you shove the key in and MrsT doesn't like it so we never use it.

[Kim]

I think it depends on the lock.  PVC doors with multi-point locking operated by a Euro cylinder are pretty common here.  Possibly they like a second lock if the lock only operates at one point.  Last time I had reason to care about such things, they were more interested in the complexity of the lock than the solidness of the door.

[Mr Larrington]

Door from the porch into the actual house has two - a Yale-stylee one and a deadlock.  Sooner or later I'll fit a deadlock to the outer one too.  Hopefully this will take slightly fewer than four years.

Edit: also the only things worth nicking from the porch are the hedge trimmer and chainsaw.

[drossall]

And yes, I was able to get back in after taking the photo.  Only took four years.

To fit the door , or to get back in?

[T42]

Door from the porch into the actual house has two - a Yale-stylee one and a deadlock.  Sooner or later I'll fit a deadlock to the outer one too.  Hopefully this will take slightly fewer than four years.

Edit: also the only things worth nicking from the porch are the hedge trimmer and chainsaw.

One of ours is a deadlock. When I fitted it I had to bore a 4 cm hole through the door. Last time I thought about replacing it I found that similar locks were difference distances from the edge of the door, so that I'd have to plug the first hole and bore another - nasty job.  It's a hefty panelled oak door and it'd be very easy to make a pig's ear of it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The little window is pretty.

[Mr Larrington]

It's also nice and thick, unlike the old one in which one of the three glass elements got b0rked while I was on holiday and got boarded up for about seven years.  DIY projects at Larrington Towers move in a mysterious way, and also very slowly.

[CarlF]

Replaced the screws holding the hinges to the front door frame as those installed up until just now were installed about 25 years ago by a ham-fisted dolt.  Does anyone make:

1: screws and
c) Pozidrive screwdriver bits

out of something other than cheese?

- Spax
- Wera

(I understand some may prefer Reisser and/or Wiha respectively, which I am sure would be valid alternatives. You may spot a Teutonic theme...)